Hurricane Irma has hit the Florida keys as a category four storm according to the National Hurricane Center. Extreme winds and life-threatening storm surges are already battering the coast, they’re expected to last for some hours.
The storm, which has killed at least 24 people in the Caribbean is believed to be carrying with it winds of around 210km an hour
Shelters in some areas have been filling up quickly with some people being turned away. The western Gulf coast is expected to be worst affected, with cities such as Tampa and St Petersburg in the path of the storm.
Crystal Weddington, had home destroyed by Harvey flooding: “We’re worried because, hell, our home got destroyed from Harvey. It was flooded, and that’s in Sarasota (Florida) and now it’s going to be flooded even worse.’‘
Thousands of people have spent the night in emergency shelters ahead of the storm that’s prompted one of the largest evacuations in US history.
6.3 million people had already been evacuated. Storm surges pushed by a high tide were forecast to be as high as 15 feet (4.6 meters) for low-lying area along the state’s southwest coast on Sunday, which could produce catastrophic flooding for thousands of homes. “Take action now to protect your life,” the National Weather Service in Key West advised. “This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation.” Officials in Florida have ordered a total of 6.3 million people, or about a third of the state’s population, to evacuate, creating massive traffic jams on highways and overcrowding shelters. Irma, which killed at least 22 people in the Caribbean, was likely to cause billions of dollars in damage to the third-most-populous U.S. state.
